Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Discussions have begun over the government’s Strategic Fuel Breaks program, set to come to this region in the next few months.

The program is described here. There are two kinds of break:

—Asset protection breaks, to be set up around settlements. These consist of areas 40 metres wide, mown down to 10 centimetres, and maintained permanently in this state. In principle, FOBIF has no problem with this program. In fact we’ve been banging on for years about the desirability of focussing safety measures around settlements.

Fryers Ridge road: we’re concerned to see the detail of how a Landscape Protection break would look along this road.

Asset protection breaks were noted in the recent draft Bendigo bushfire mitigation plan as ‘the most urgent works’ for that region. Interestingly, however, they appear to have lost priority, because of the complexities of working with settlement boundaries. Instead, the project in this region seems to be focussing on

Landscape Protection breaks. These are also up to 40 metres wide, along roads through forested areas.

The details of these breaks are less clear. According to the DELWP website,

‘Depending on their purpose, Strategic Fuel Breaks are fuel reduced areas up to 40m wide, that once established, will resemble open grassy wood or heath lands. They involve the permanent reduction of bushy vegetation through mulching and slashing, and the removal of hazardous trees and impediments to maintenance such as stumps, logs and branches.’

Could the fuel reduced areas in these forest breaks be ‘grassy wood or heathlands’? And what, exactly, would that mean? We have received mixed messages on this. At a meeting in the Fryers Forest last Friday, representatives of FOBIF, the Castlemaine Field Naturalists and local landcare met with project leaders to clarify the question. The answers were encouraging, but the matter is still under discussion.

In the meantime, FOBIF’s position is that

–Asset protection breaks should be a priority, and that

–Landscape Protection Breaks might be a good idea—depending on how they’re implemented. Given that breaks are proposed to run the length of the Fryers Ridge and Porcupine Ridge roads, and several other environmentally important parts of our bushlands, this is a vital point. We’ve repeatedly had problems with managers’ trackside maintenance (for a sample horror story, check here), and are fearful of repeats on a grand scale.

A further point is that the Strategic fuel breaks program seems to be independent of the Fire Operations plans. We’re confused by this and are seeking clarification.

Discussions on the project are ongoing–but it seems that works will start before the end of the year…

FOBIF has made a submission to DELWP on the current fire management plan. The ‘fuel reduction’ burns currently planned can be seen on the Department’s excellent interactive map here.

Our submission essentially related to the following:

–We believe burns planned for the Wewak and Helge tracks are far too big—collectively they are far and away the biggest area planned for burning for decades. See our previous posts here , here, and here.

–We have enquired as to the approach to be taken to the Columbine Creek burn, especially in relation to its past burn history. See our post here

–The burn plan envisages another attempt to burn a section of Kalimna Park burned only last year. We ask in what way this year’s attempt will be different. See our post here

–We ask how the Department’s plans for Walmer state forest allow for the presence in the zone of the rare plant Grevillea dryophylla.

We have also asked for clarification as to the relation of the planned burn program to the Fuel Breaks project which is currently under discussion for this region (see Post above). There doesn’t actually seem to be much connection between the two programs—at this stage we’re a little confused by this fact.

Forty participants logged in to last Monday’s FOBIF AGM by Zoom. They heard an inspirational talk by Ian Higgins on the disappearance of Australian native pea plants—the lost world of Mitchell’s Australia Felix—and their possible return to our landscapes. A detailed report on Ian’s talk will be posted on this site in the next week or so.

President Marie Jones reviewed the group activities for the year: a continual round of negotiations with land managers, submissions to government, and cooperation with like-minded groups. Our monthly walks program attracts good numbers. We lobbied for a full time environment officer position at the Shire, and were pleased with the outcome. We are positive about the Balak kalik manya ‘walking together’ project for Kalimna Park, and about indigenous co-management generally. Our publications have continued to sell very well, our recent guide to native peas almost selling out in few months. Our upcoming guide to bushwalks in the region is due for publication in the coming month.

Elections were held for the FOBIF committee for 2021. The following were elected unopposed:

President: Marie Jones

Vice President: Neville Cooper

Secretary: Bernard Slattery

Treasurer: Lynette Amaterstein

Committee members: Asha Bannon, Jeremy Holland, Frank Panter, Cassia Read, Bronwyn Silver

There remain two vacant positions on the committee for ordinary members.

Remember: FOBIF committee meetings are open to all members. They’re at the Continuing Education building in Templeton Street at 6 pm on the second Monday of every month except January.

We’ve seen them floating onto beaches in other parts of the world. We see them lying around in gutters…Maybe it was inevitable we’d see one flying through the air and landing in the trees: a small offshoot of virus conditions, and another cryptic comment on how our culture relates to nature?

Not so cute: Native Cherry with mask, Castlemaine.

Come along (via Zoom®) to FOBIF’s AGM (7:30 p.m. on Monday the 9th of August) and hear Ian Higgins speak on:

“Everything you wanted to know about the plant world’s third most diverse family but were too afraid to ask”.

Yes, the “Fabaceae” family, aka peas and relatives has just won the bronze medal for species diversity (right after orchids and daisies)!  But was it cheating by branch stacking?  This family recently experienced a dramatic increase in the number of its species.

• What happened? 
• What is the Greek word for branch anyway?
• Why is this family the world’s most important source of plant resources that support humans (and the rest of the planet)?
• Did you realise, that before Europeanisation, our district used to be much richer in species of this family? 
• What’s gone missing and why?
• What is the role of phosphorous and why is spreading “super” such an un-Australian activity?
• What’s the connection with butterflies?
• What is plant blindness
• Why should I care about plant identification?

Ian will reveal answers to all these questions and more as part of the launch of FOBIF’s marvellous identification booklet: “Native Peas of the Mount Alexander Region“.

Members and supporters who wish to attend can register by emailing FOBIF (info@fobif.org.au). We would like people to register 48 hours before the meeting. People who have registered will be sent a login link before the meeting. 

In a recent post we reported on the Victorian Government decision to create three new national parks in central-west Victoria. Alison Pouliot comments below on proposed long delays in stopping logging in these parks. She has also produced a terrific video, ‘Listen to the Forest’, on the ecological importance of the forests (see link below).

The fight for the proposed Victorian National Parks must continue . . . .

Following years of campaigning by conservation groups, the Victorian State Government recently announced plans to enact three new National Parks in central-west Victoria (Wombat Forest, Mt Cole and Pyrenees Ranges). While this is very welcome news, extensive logging by VicForests will be allowed to continue in the latter two until 2030. Commercial quantities of firewood will be extracted in the Wombat forest for the next four years. 

The environmental values of these forests are likely to be severely compromised by the time the National Parks are legislated. These forests contain the headwaters of major river systems, threatened species habitats and are an oasis of biodiversity in an otherwise highly fragmented landscape. It is vital that the proposed new National Parks are urgently declared and legislated.  We cannot wait until 2030. 

To contribute your voice, write to the Minister for the Environment, The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio  lily.dambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au c.c. mary-anne.thomas@parliament.vic.gov.au 

and tell them why the forest is important to you and why the parks need to be urgently legislated.

You might also like to view this short video about these forests and the proposed parks by Alison Pouliot – Listen to the Forest or read the Victorian Government’s response to VEAC’s Central West Investigation.

Kangaroo Creek catchment KAN9064 © Alison Pouliot

Last week’s floods in Europe were horrific, and we must be moved by the sight of helpless people sorting through their destroyed homes.

Victims must be helped, and lives rebuilt…and, of course, lessons should be learned. Already there’s a sense of urgency in Europe about climate change: for decades scientists have been warning of increased frequency and severity of disaster events like this. This matter has been settled in Europe, in theory at least: unlike in Australia, European leaders seem to know how to add two and two to get four.

A matter getting less publicity is urban planning. Have a look at this map of the Arh river, a tributary of the Rhine:

The Ahr river: Lit mineur is the river’s normal course. Lit majeur is the flood plain. (From France 2 Television July 17).

The area in grey is the river’s flood plain, on which numerous houses have been built.

Now have a look at this one, of the flood zone:After recent heavy rain the river naturally spilled onto its flood plain, inundating houses built there. (From France 2 television).

Of course, in time of torrential rain, rivers flood onto their flood plains. And, according to New Scientist magazine,

‘On many major European rivers – including the Danube and Rhine – more than 80 per cent of the low-lying land, where rivers naturally spread during high flows, has been barricaded by flood defences, drained and built on… In Hungary, for example, almost a fifth of the population lives on floodplains…

‘Besides being bad for natural ecosystems such as wetlands, corralling rivers within their banks increases the risk of flooding… This is because the barriers raise river levels higher during floods. Somewhere, they will inevitably burst their banks, flooding homes and streets.’

A European Environment Agency 2016 report predicted a five fold increase in flood events by 2050. It estimated that four fifths of the resultant damage would come from building over flood plains.

While Europeans count the cost of last week’s catastrophe, it might be worth while considering our own situation. Although we at FOBIF are a bit worried about our tendency to repeat ourselves, here we go again: this is from our report on last year’s Royal Commission into natural disasters:

‘The 2004 National Inquiry on Bushfire Mitigation and Management, said that, to reduce natural hazard risk from bushfires: Planning processes [should] ensure that built assets are not placed in areas of high fire risk and that structures meet standards of construction that reduce their vulnerability.’

[2020] ‘Currently, all states permit homes to be built in bushfire and flood prone areas, and the degree to which planning or building standards act to mitigate risk varies across jurisdictions’…

‘…there is still clear evidence of recent planning decisions placing communities at a known and obvious risk of disaster. For example, development in the suburb of Idalia in Townsville is only partially completed, yet it was significantly inundated by flood in February 2019.’

Oh well. As the Commission sadly noted, Australia has now had 240 reports into natural disasters. And maybe we’ll have a few more before too long…